Pineapple Express’ review: Stonerhood of the traveling pants

Saturday

Aug 9, 2008 at 8:07 PM

Gina Carbone

The bromance genre is alive and well and it just gave me a pickle craving.

Goofy, sweet, random, oddly romantic and occasionally hilarious, “Pineapple Express” is such a classic Seth Rogen/Judd Apatow production, I wonder if artsy fartsy director David Gordon Green (“All the Real Girls”) was hired just to show people where the power really is.

Bromosexual tension, juvenile sex jokes, emotionally stunted man-children – yeah, we’ve been here before, and recently. “The 40-year-old Virgin” started the show back in 2005 and in three short years we’ve seen “Talladega Nights,” “Knocked Up,” “Superbad,” “Walk Hard,” “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” “Step Brothers” and, now, “Pineapple Express.” And that’s just from the Apatow production workhouse alone.

Two things set “Pineapple” apart from the pack: less sex, more violence. It’s an action movie where the main schlub has a hot teenage girlfriend, but they don’t have sexy time and he does end up killing people with his BFFF (best f---ing friends forever).

Seth Rogen started out as the supporting guy who stole all the best scenes. Now he’s the straight man, so to speak, and lets his co-stars be the characters.

In this case, brooding heartthrob James Franco – “Spider-Man’s” former BFFF and an Apatow veteran from the “Freaks and Geeks” days – plays Saul, a sweet, lovable, scruffily attractive drug dealer from the sweet lovable scruffily attractive druggie model Brad Pitt initiated back in 1993 with “True Romance.”

Saul is drug dealer to Dale (Rogen), who serves subpoenas in creative ways, like dressing up as a doctor and presenting the papers to a surgeon, mid-surgery. But mostly he just gets high. God knows how he landed 18-year-old Angie (Amber Heard), who is like one of the hotties the teens in “Superbad” would’ve lusted after. Is this the Apatow crew’s way of trying to switch it up? Instead of trying to land hot chicks, they start with an adoring one and then go out of their way to screw it up? Nice.

Saul is adorable and not just because he loves “The Jeffersons” and his grandmother (“my bubbe”) and worries that he may have to pull the plug on her. He’s also lonely and wants Dale to stay and be his friend, not just a client. He turns him on to Pineapple Express, a rare, especially potent kind of weed.

While smoking some Pineapple, Dale witnesses a murder committed by a cop (Rosie Perez!) and a drug dealer Saul works with (Gary Cole!). From that point on, the movie shifts from lazy ramblings to pumped-up paranoia – including a great chase scene and an even better fight scene at the home of Saul’s middle man, Red (Danny R. McBride of "All the Real Girls” and “The Foot Fist Way”).

Franco may be the sweetheart of the film, but McBride is definitely the standout. Sharing that spotlight is Craig Robinson, best known as Darryl in “The Office.” Robinson really gets a chance to shine as a sassy, emotional hit man arguing with his emotionally distant partner (Kevin Corrigan).

“Pineapple Express” has a funky black-and-white opening set in the 1940s. It’s an extended introduction to weed as an anti-establishment drug the government needed to declare illegal to keep the peons in check. (Look for Apatow regular Bill Hader as the stoned private.) Back in real time, Dale is a talk radio junkie who argues for the legalization of marijuana.

But hold up, libertarians. Although the film makes sure we know Pineapple Express is so amazing it smells like “God’s vagina,” the ultimate message is that Dale and Saul got themselves into this mess because they don’t function well when they’re high. (We know this is the ultimate message because Dale announces it.)

I’m not sure that opening was really necessary – not that necessary is a word that fits in the stoner genre. It felt like a DVD extra. The ending felt the same way, even though it’s possibly the funniest scene in the movie. We watch three men gush on and on about how much they love each other, like teenage girls. They literally talk about buying those necklaces with the hearts in them. But nothing happens, nothing is resolved. It’s like a Quentin Tarantino scene without the wit. Just amusing “dick flick” babble.

Apatow excels at this kind of bromance, which differs from the buddy film in that the latent homosexuality of the latter is openly acknowledged and played with. In this round, Apatow and company are mixing the newly revived stoner genre with the bromance, which was also done recently in the “Harold and Kumar” films. (None of these genres should be confused with my favorite, the nemesexual genre, where the chief good guy and the chief baddie have a powerful sexual chemistry. See “The Dark Knight,” “3:10 to Yuma” or apparently anything that Christian Bale does.)

I appreciate that Rogen and company elevated the humor a tad from the college frat party base. Harold and Kumar are all about scoring – scoring drugs, scoring women, sex, drugs, sex, drugs. “Pineapple” is about connections. About stunted adults frustrated with their lives, looking for an escape. It’s about friendships and growing up. But only after getting high and eating pickles off the roof of a car. Those things looked good.

Gina Carbone wonders if Dale’s girlfriend is still in that hotel room. She can be reached at gcarbone@seacoastonline.com.

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